In game 2, All Star lefthander Cliff Lee dueled with recently called-up Alex Sanabia for six innings with the Phils taking a 1-0 lead in the sixth on outfielder John Mayberry Jr.’s leadoff solo shot, as manager Charlie Manuel rested regulars centerfielder Shane Victorino, 1st baseman Ryan Howard and 3rd baseman Placido Polanco.   Lee had another masterful outing striking out 12 and giving up a run on 5 hits although he was 1 pitch from closing out the Marlins and recording his 17th win when 1st baseman Jose Lopez stroked a game-tying solo shot to leftfield to tie the game.  Young reliever Michael Schwimmer went clean on the Marlins in the tenth to record his 1st MLB win when Howard pinch-hit in the Phils’ tenth and stroked reliever  Burke Badenhop’s 3-1 pitch to deep centerfield for a walkoff RBI double after Badenhop walked 3rd baseman Michael Martinez to open the inning.   The Phillies swept the doubleheader from Marlins by 3-1 and  2-1 scores and are 2 wins from clinching the NL East championship for the fifth straight season.

With their doubleheader sweep of Florida, the Phillies’ NL East lead reached 12 games over the 2nd place  Atlanta Braves who had the day off.   The Braves remained 4 1/2 games up on the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Wild Card race as the Cards also had the day off.   The 3rd place Washington Nationals are 26 games back after pounding the 4th place Mets who are 27 games back .  The last place Marlins dropped to 31 games behind the front-runners.   The Phils magic number (combination of Phils wins and Braves losses) to clinch the NL East title is now 2 games.

One of the great mysteries of life is why manager Charlie Manuel pulled the plug on Kendrick sooo early in game 1, after five innings and 78 pitches.   His ground ball/fly ball ratio was nearly even at 4-5 and he struck out 6 while looking strong.  His performance was worthy of sticking with him for another inning or two.  His only mistake was leftfielder Logan Morrison’s lead-off solo shot on a 3-2 pitch in the fifth.  But Kendrick recovered well afterwards, only allowing an infield single and getting through the inning with a pop-out and 2 strikeouts.  Why Manuel had to unduly burden his bullpen at that point is hard to understand.  But it worked, although the 4 relievers gave up 6 hits and issued 3 walks and the Marlins pressed the Phils the rest of way but came up empty.

Although not getting his 17th win, Lee lowered his ERA to 2.38 and his gem came one day after Roy Halladay’s 1-0 masterpiece over Houston.   Thus, Phillies pitching had been scored upon but once in 30 2/3 innings prior to Lopez’s game-tying shot off of Lee on an 0-2 count in the ninth inning of game 2.   For Lee, Lopez’s hmer was only the 5th run scored against him, and the 2nd homer he gave up in his last 64 2/3 innings.

For AP’s game recaps on the doubleheader for Yahoo sports, click here and here.

For all of Thursday’s scores and recaps, click here.

The Phillies now open a 4 game series with the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday through next Monday.    In Friday’s opener, rookie Vance Worley goes for his 12th win opposed by lefthander Jaime Garcia for the Cards.   On Saturday, Roy Oswalt tries to get back on track going against Jake Westbrook.

For all of Friday’s and Saturday’s scheduled games throughout MLB, click here and here.

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With the win, the Phils broke their 3 game losing string and clinched a playoff berth, but that clinch in itself is not satisfying for guys with their eyes on the World Series and the club came out saying that there would be no champagne for merely clinching a berth.   When they clinch the division, which now seems a foregone conclusion, they will then probably get a taste of the bubbly.

AP’s game recap for Yahoo sports provides the game highlights:

The Phillies, who had lost three in a row, needed a win over Houston or a loss by St. Louis on Wednesday to wrap up a playoff spot. The Cardinals beat Pittsburgh 3-2.

Shane Victorino doubled in the first inning and scored the only run on Placido Polanco’s single to help Philadelphia avoid a three-game sweep.

“We went out today and played good baseball,” Victorino said. “Unfortunately, we came up short a couple of innings when we had a chance to score.”

Halladay (18-5) escaped trouble in the second and seventh, finishing with seven strikeouts and one walk for his first shutout of the season. The two-time Cy Young Award winner gave up six hits and threw 114 pitches for his eighth complete game of the year, tops in the NL. The game took just 2 hours, 6 minutes.

Houston loaded the bases in the second [third] on Polanco’s error at third, a single by Brian Bogusevic and a bunt single by Jose Altuve. The threat ended quickly when Carlos Lee was forced at home and Humberto Quintero hit into a double play.

Halladay struck out pinch-hitter Matt Downs with a runner on second in the seventh to end that threat. Downs leads the majors with 12 pinch-hit RBIs.

The Phillies spoiled a strong seven innings by Bud Norris (6-10).

Astro relievers Wilton Lopez (1 1/3 innings) and lefthander Wesley Wright (2/3 inning) shut down the Phils totally in the eighth and ninth innings, each striking out 2.

For all of Wednesday’s scores and recaps, click here.

The Phillies now return home to play a Thursday doubleheader with the Florida Marlins before opening a 4 game series with the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday through next Monday.    In Thursday’s doubleheader,  Kyle Kendrick is slated to go against Anibal Sanchez in the opener while All Star Lefthander Cliff Lee goes for his 17th win in the nightcap opposed by recently called-up Alex Sanabia, making his first-ever start against the Phils, for the Marlins.

For all of Thursday’s scheduled games throughout MLB, click here.

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It may be that the stretch of games without rest is catching up with the Phillies and may be the great equalizer down the stretch in what has otherwise been a run-away season.   Or, losing 3 straight, and losing the first 2 of a series with MLB’s worst team, the Houston Astros may simply be a blip on the scope.    But either way, former Phil lefthander J.A. Happ duplicated his former Phillies teammate Brett Myers’ effort on Monday as the Phils have scored but 5 runs in their last twenty-seven innings of play.   Happ went six innings combining with rookie relievers Fernando Rodriguez (2 innings) and David Carpenter (1 inning) to hold the Phils to 2 runs on a total of 5 hits, although Happ walked 4 over his six innings.   With the Phils trailing 2-1 in the fourth inning, the big blow of the game was shortstop Clint Barmes’ 3 run homer off of lefthander Cole Hamels amidst the 4 run fourth.  Houston scored it’s other run in the first inning.  For Happ, it was his 6th win vs 15 losses.  As with Roy Oswalt on Monday, Hamels was shaky and not effective.  The Phils had Happ on the ropes in the fourth and fifth innings where they could have scored multiple runs.  But their only runs came on a 1 out fourth inning solo shot by rightfielder Hunter Pence and catcher Carlos Ruiz’s 1 out ninth inning solo homer off of Carpenter as former Phil Happ stifles the Phillies in Houston’s 5-2 win in game 2 of their 3 game series.

With their 2nd loss to Houston, the Phillies’ NL East lead dropped to 11 games over the 2nd place Atlanta Braves who beat the Florida Marlins.   The Braves still hold a 4 1/2 game lead in the NL Wild Card race.   The 3rd place Mets remained 24 1/2 games back although they were again edged by the 4th place Washington Nationals who are now 25 1/2 games back.   The last place Marlins remained 28 games behind the front-runners.   The Phils magic number (combination of Phils wins and Braves losses) to clinch the NL East title remained 5 games.

For a rare time this season, this game was too disgusting and embarrassing to waste any further ink on.   For those who masochistic enough, the AP game recap for Yahoo sports provides the lowlights of this bummer.

For all of Tuesday’s scores and recaps, click here.

The Phillies hope to avoid an embarrassing series sweep by Houston as ace Roy Halladay goes for his 18th win opposed by Bud Norris.

For all of Wednesday’s scheduled games throughout MLB, click here.

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